Faceted Navigation: Best of Browse and Search

1. Faceted Navigation: Best of Browse and Search Tom ReamyChief Knowledge Architect KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com

2. Agenda • Introduction: What is Faceted Navigation? • When to Use Faceted Navigation • Implementation of Faceted Navigation • Future of Faceted Navigation

3. What is Faceted Navigation? • Faceted navigation will change enterprise search! • Faceted navigation will change the way business works! • Faceted navigation means the end of taxonomies! • Faceted navigation means no more metadata! • Faceted navigation will eventually replace search! • Faceted navigation will remove rust, polish your silver, feed the hungry, clothe the poor, and bring world peace! • To All the Above – NAH!

4. History of Faceted Navigation • Relatively New -- Taxonomies - Aristotle • S. R. Ranganathan – 1960’s • Issue of Compound Subjects • The Universe consists of PMEST • Personality, Matter, Energy, Space, Time • Classification Research Group- 1950’s, 1970’s • Based on Ranganathan, simplified, less doctrinaire • Principles: • Division – a facet must represent only one characteristic • Mutual Exclusivity • Classification Theory to Web Implementation • An Idea waiting for a technology • Multiple Filters / dimensions

5. What are Facets? • Facets are not categories • Entities or concepts belong to a category • Entities have facets • Facets are metadata - properties or attributes • Entities or concepts fit into one category • All entities have all facets – defined by set of values • Facets are orthogonal – mutually exclusive – dimensions • An event is not a person is not a document is not a place. • A winery is not a region is not a price is not a color.

6. What are Facets?Internal Organization • Taxonomies – parent – child • Animal – Mammal – Zebra • Browse Classification – cluster • Food and Dining – Catering - Restaurants • Facets – variety – of units, of structure • Date or price – numerical range • Location – big to small (partonomy) • Winery - alphabetical

7. What is Faceted Navigation? • Not a Yahoo-style Browse • Computer Stores under Computers and Internet • One value per facet per entity • Faceted Navigation is not hierarchical • Tree – travel up and down, not across • Facets are filters, multidimensional • Facets are applied at search results time – post-coordination, not pre-coordination [Advanced Search] • Faceted Navigation is an active interface – dynamic combination of search and browse

8. A Sideways Look at Faceted NavigationMiles wants a Pinot NoirAnd he doesn’t want any ____________ Merlot!

9. When to Use Faceted NavigationAdvantages • Systematic Advantages: • Need fewer Elements • 4 facets of 10 nodes = 10,000 node taxonomy • Ability to Handle Compound Subjects • Content Management Advantages: • Easier to “categorize” – not as conceptual • Fewer = simple, can use auto-classification better • Flexible – can add new facets, elements in facet

10. When to Use Faceted NavigationAdvantages: Implementation • More intuitive – easy to guess what is behind each door • Simplicity of internal organization • 20 questions – we know and use • Dynamic selection of categories • Allow multiple perspectives • Trick Users into “using” Advanced Search • wine where color = red, price = x-y, etc. • Click on color red, click on price x-y, etc. • Flexible – can be combined with other navigation elements

11. When to Use Faceted NavigationDisadvantages • Systematic Disadvantages: • Lack of Standards for Faceted Classifications • Every project is unique customization • Implementation Disadvantages: • Loss of Browse Context • Difficult to grasp scope and relationships • No immediate support for popular subjects • Essential Limit of Faceted Navigation • Limited Domain Applicability – type and size • Entities not concepts, documents, web sites

12. Developing Facet Structure:Selection of Facets: Theory • Issue - Complete Model of a domain • Ranganathan – PMEST • Personality – Person, animal, event • Matter – what x is made of • Energy – how x changes • Space – where x is • Time – when x happens • Three Planes – Idea, Verbal, Notational

13. Thing / Entity Kind Part Property Material Process Operation Patient Product By-product Agent Space Time Developing Facet Structure:Selection of Facets: Theory Bliss Bibliographic Classification (BC2)

14. Region Australia, California Type Red Wine, White, Bubbly Winery Alphabetical listing Price $25 and below $25-$50 Top Rated Wines 90+ under $20 Top Sellers Cabinet Sauvignon Pinot Noir Hot Features Wine outlet Sideways collection Developing Facet Structure:Selection of Facets: Practice Wine.com

15. Periods 17th-18th century Locations Africa, Western Europe Source Person, catalog, schools Materials Chalk, clay View Types City views, drawings Building Names White House Concepts Cultural, Economic People Artist, Developer Styles Ancient, Mediterranean Structure Types Building, Human Settlements Developing Facet Structure:Selection of Facets: Practice Flamenco Architecture Search

16. Future of Faceted Navigation • E-commerce Sites – Biggest Growth • Webdesignpractices • 69% used faceted navigation • 77% used navigation, 6% used faceted classification in search but no browse, 17% had both search and browse • 67% only used single point entry, no progressive filtering – not really facets, just categories • Computers, Gifts, Kitchen Ware, Music/Video – Yes • Office Supplies – no

17. Future of Faceted Navigation • Enterprise Applications • Selected areas: supplies, forms, etc. • Software Libraries • Yellow Pages, Faceted Site Map • Personalization – Matching facet selection to task, user community, and domain • Business Rules and Facet Relationships • If <People = X> AND <Product = Y> THEN tag the story for text mining, Fact Extraction

18. Future of Faceted Navigation • Faceted Taxonomies • Advantages – smaller, scalability, conceptual clarity • More complex, conceptual entities and relationships • When to use: • Size of element set • Complexity of domain – concepts, documents, web pages • Combining subject matter and facets • Geography facet and terrorism taxonomy

19. Basic Six Dimensions People individuals and communities Event Location Time Entities/ Things Information Resource – types Custom Products / Services Applications / Technologies Rules Attributes – credit limit Function – credit management Combine with subject matter taxonomies Faceted Taxonomy – ExampleKAPS Group Enterprise Taxonomy

20. Conclusion • Faceted Navigation is not the answer, but it’s a good additional tool for the right domains • Easy to use and understand, but can be difficult to develop • Limited enterprise use, but growing – site maps, etc. • Importance of user/task modeling • Creating standards and taxonomies can reduce the amount of customization for each project • Flexible – can start small and build or start with giant taxonomy and select. • Faceted Navigation means more structure, taxonomies, metadata, not less – and that is a good thing

21. Questions? Tom Reamytomr@kapsgroup.com KAPS Group Knowledge Architecture Professional Services http://www.kapsgroup.com

22. Faceted Navigation Resources • Articles • Faceted Classification Resource Collection • http://deyalexander.com/resources/faceted-classification.html • A Simplified Model for Facet Analysis • http://iainstitute.org/pg/a_simplified_model_for_facet_analysis.php • Mailing List for Faceted Classification • http://www.poorbuthappy.com/fcd/ • Study – Facets on the Web (75 ecommerce sites) • http://mypage.iu.edu/%7Eklabarre/facetstudy.html

23. Faceted Navigation Resources • Example Implementations • Berkeley SIMS – Flamenco http://bailando.sims.berkeley.edu/flamenco.html • Facetmap – demo’s – www.facetmap.com • Commercial – Wine.com (and 75 others– see articles) • Tools • Inxight – entity and fact extraction – www.inxight.com • ClearForest - http://www.clearforest.com/ • Verity – http://www.verity.com • Convera – Facet Taxonomies - www.convera.com

24. Faceted Navigation Resources • Vendors • Atomz - http://www.atomz.com • Dieselpoint – http://www.dieselpoint.com • EasyAsk – http://www.easyask.com • Endeca – http://www.endeca.com • iPhrase – http://www.iphrase.com • Siderean Software - http://www.siderean.com/ • Aduna – http://aduna.biz/index.html • I4ii – http://www.i411.com

25. Faceted Navigation Resources • Articles • How to Make a Faceted Classification and Put It On the Web • http://www.misatonic.org/library/facet-web-howto.html • Putting Facets on the Web: An Annotated Bibliography • http://www.miskatonic.org/library/facet-biblio.html • Ecommerce – cooking and kitchen – Faceted Navigation http://www. • Extended Faceted Taxonomies for Web Catalogs • http://www.ercim.org/publication/Ercim_News/enw51/tzitzikas.html • Webdesignpractices – study of ecommerce use of faceted navigation – Use of Faceted Classification • http://www.webdesignpractices.com/navigation/facets.html